Ames, IA Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Ames Municipal Code Chapter 10 sets the container rules that govern every curbside cart in the city. Sec. 10.3 requires that garbage or recycling never be set outdoors except inside a water-tight, tightly closed hard receptacle that birds or animals cannot tear open, and it specifically bars using plastic bags or paper sacks as a substitute container; a lid-topped container that sheds rain when closed satisfies the water-tight requirement. Sec. 10.4 puts the burden on the householder or business occupant to furnish that receptacle and keep it in a sanitary condition.

Sec. 10.5 adds an over-filling rule: whoever uses the receptacle must empty it before it is so full the cover will not fit tightly, the closest the code comes to a capacity limit for a single cart. Sec. 10.6 fixes where the cart has to sit: it must be delivered to ground level by the householder or occupant and kept in a location convenient for collection. The Resource Recovery Superintendent and city-licensed haulers who service Ames' collection contract check compliance on routine routes. Because Chapter 10's general municipal-infraction penalty in Sec.

10.25 is $500 for a first offense, the council set a lighter first-offense fine of $200 specifically for violations of Sections 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5, rising to $500 for a second violation and $750 for each repeat after that.